The SSD Capacity Record Has Been Broken Again

When Samsung announced a new 30 terabyte SSD drive – “the world’s largest solid-state drive” – the tech world was understandably impressed. Now less than 30 days later, Nimbus Data has unveiled their flagship solid-state drive with an even more impressive 100TB capacity.

Unfortunately for Samsung, their snappy marketing slogan is now wrong on all counts. Not only does their PM1643 provide just one-third of the capacity of Nimbus’ ExaDrive DC100, but it is also physically smaller, measuring just 2.5”. The ExaDrive unit comes in at the traditional 3.5” form factor.

Even more record-breaking stats

Although the ExaDrive DC100 is expected to be eye-wateringly expensive when it launches commercially, it also shows the future of SSD technology. As well as offering nearly ten times the storage density of the largest magnetic disks, the drive is also incredibly energy efficient.

According to Nimbus Data’s testing, the DC100 uses just 0.1 watts per terabyte – 85% less than its nearest competitor. An array fully populated with ExaDrive units will be considerably more energy efficient than anything else currently on the market. Such an array would also offer far greater capacity density than its nearest competitor.

The days of spinning disks are numbered

Every long-term data strategy will include a move to all flash arrays at some point in the future. As the first of its kind, the ExaDrive DC100 will be outside the budget for most applications, but it does show that capacity will not be a problem in the future.

The lower storage density and access speeds of magnetic disks means that their days are numbered. And if flash continues to develop at anywhere near this pace (300% capacity increases won’t happen every thirty days), the end of spinning disks may arrive sooner than predicted – so long as prices fall at a similar rate. Our team of experts can help you determine the best data storage options for your business. Contact us today for more information.